Wichita eagle., 1887-11-18
BURIED ALIVE.
SAD FATE OF A TW0.1EAR'0LD
CHILD.
Eighty Feet Below the Surface While the
Distracted Mother Hears
It's Cries.

Mr.. F. F. Lewis returned yesterday from
several DAYS visit to Scott City and sur
rounding country and tells of quite ser
ious accident that happened about twenty
five miles southwest of Scott in the corner
of Wichita county. Wednesday afternoon
little 2-year-old girl, the daughter of a
man named johnson, was playing around
the we'll and fell down the pipe. The pipe
is one hundred and ten feet deep with
twenty-five foot of water in it. At the sur
face and for eighty feet it is one foot in
diameter and then contracts to near eight
inches.
As soon as the child fell down the pipe
some neighbors were notified and work
| commenced on rescuing the unfortunate
! little girl At first it was expected that
she was dead Listening at the end OF
the pipe they could hear her cries
! This gave assurance that she was not dead
and stimulated prompt action. A small
weight at the end of rope was let down
to find out how far the body had fallen.
1t had slid the eighty feet, which was ex-
| pected.
The problem Of rescuing the helpless IN
FAINT was not an easy one. In short time
quite a number of citizens were at the
scene, and no one seemed to be able to sug-
gest an easy plan for the rescue. 1t was
suggested to attach hook at the end of a
rope and let it down, hoping it would catch
in the child's clothing and they would be
able to draw up the body. Soon hook
was secured and attached to a rope. They
let it down to the sobolng
child and commenced fishing.
| Il, haI tot bo
clothes. They pulled and the hold broke.
They drew out the hook and with it came
clothes partially covered with blood.
The child could yet be heard crying,
The "horribleness' OF the situation more
and more dawned upon the crowd. TO
persist in trying to reclaim the body with
the hook was considered dangerous There
was no hope to get the child out alive by
getting a chance catch with a hook. 1t
was seen fall in and known that she went
feet foremost. The hook then would be
more likely to take hold of the head than
the shoulders or any other part of the body.
She had went down probably
with such velocity as to be wedged
in the top part of the smaller
portion of the tube. This would necessi-
tate hard pull to release her, and the
chances of the hook taking hold Of the
head caused them to think that it would
almost be murder to further attempt &c
rescue the body with a hook.
The cries of the little girl could yet be
heard. What to be dOne?" was the SUI
preme question of the hour. The first plan
had proved wanting The second could
be but one thing. and that to sink shaft
i -f,ly haft piC ybf fppt
4 task that should be done with not q
moments delay in hope Of recovering the
child. Doubts of being able to do it before
death were expressed. But there was
but one thing to do, and do it DIES,
pite the doubts as quickly as possible
was the verdict of the crowd. The dig
ging and shoveling commenced. The task
would have been too great for men less
accustomed to fight hard battles. Men
would work as hard as they could for an
hour and then be relieved by others. The
work went on Wednesday evening, that
night, and yesterday morning the shaft
was near thirty feet deep. Fifty feet more
to be dug if possible before the death OF
the child 1t was believed that they would
reach the end by sometime today. This
however is not certain, as near fifty feet
of quicksand was expected. This would
last to the finish of the eighty. The wall.
would have to be planked or it would fill
up as fast as taken out Lumber was being
hauled to be used for protecting wall
Since the accident the poor mother has
been almost distracted with grief. She re
fuses to be comfortcd. and for hours after
the accident sat near the well listening tC
the faint cries of her only child 1t is fear
ed that she Will not be able to survive the
shock if the infant dies before rescued. She
insisted that food be sent down and they
complied with the request. No one seemed
to think that the child was able to eat any
of the food sent it. Even if it had presence
of mind it probably is not in a position Il
feed itself.